The Roma uprising in Auschwitz took place on May 16, 1944, when Roma prisoners offered armed resistance against the planned liquidation of the so-called Zigeunerlager, defending themselves from death.
An act of defiance within the machinery of extermination
The Roma uprising in Auschwitz-Birkenau broke out on May 16, 1944, in the so-called Zigeunerlager – the Roma camp, where about six thousand Roma and Sinti were imprisoned. That day, the SS prepared to liquidate the camp and send its inhabitants to the gas chambers. However, forewarned of their fate, the prisoners armed themselves with whatever tools they could find: knives, shovels, rods, and stones. When the SS units entered, they were met with fierce and unexpected resistance. Surprised, the guards withdrew and postponed the execution. Though the liquidation followed in August 1944, the defiance of that day became one of the most powerful symbols of Roma courage during the Holocaust – a moment when an unarmed, persecuted people asserted their dignity against systematic annihilation.
“The SS men surrounded the barracks inhabited by the Gypsies. Several SS men went into the residential barracks shouting ‘Los! Los!’ there was complete silence in the barracks. The Gypsies gathered inside, armed with knives, shovels, iron tools, crowbars, and rocks, waited to see how events would unfold. They did not come out of the barracks. Consternation prevailed among the SS. They left the barracks. After conferring briefly, they went to see the commander of the operation at the Blockführerstube. After a certain time, I heard a whistle being blown. The SS men who had been surrounding the barracks left their posts, climbed onto the trucks, and drove away.”
Tadeusz Joachimowski
Auschwitz prisoner